Collection Details

Pictures of Islamic art, artefacts, antiquities and historic places. In the 630s AD Arab hordes suddenly swept out of the desert of Arabia taking the great Byzantine Roman Empire, that ruled North Africa and the Eastern Mediterranean, by surprise. In just 90 years Islamic forces had conquered the whole of North Africa and the Middle East.

The great Islamic Empires that came into existence from this date absorbed the culture of the people they conquered and fused western styles...more »

Pictures of Islamic art, artefacts, antiquities and historic places. In the 630s AD Arab hordes suddenly swept out of the desert of Arabia taking the great Byzantine Roman Empire, that ruled North Africa and the Eastern Mediterranean, by surprise. In just 90 years Islamic forces had conquered the whole of North Africa and the Middle East.

The great Islamic Empires that came into existence from this date absorbed the culture of the people they conquered and fused western styles with eastern styles to create Arabesque art and architecture. Islam and Judaism forbid the representation of religious characters as it is would be breaking the rule forbidding the worship of idols. This is why there are no representations of the Profit Mohammed in the Islamic tradition.

Arabs became great mathematicians and used this shill to create intricate geometric designs in tiles to decorate the inside of their Mosques and Palaces. Mathematical designs were used in the Mocarabe Honeycomb plasterwork that can be seen in the Alhambra Palace and in the great Berber Palaces of North Africa. Intricate geometric designs were made out of wood to make highly designed door panels. The overall effect of the Arabesque can be overwhelming as can be seen in the Topkapi Palace in Istanbul where the walls are covered in intricated geometric Iznik tiles from the floor to the ceiling.« less